We reported recently on the official Windows 10 version of the social gaming phenomenon Minecraft receiving Oculus Rift headset support. Microsoft have just announced that the game will also receive support for Oculus’ VR motion controllers ‘Touch’ on October 18th which may be further evidence of an October release for the devices.
Oculus, and in particular their CTO John Carmack, were over the moon to announce at last year’s Oculus developer conference Connect that the enormously successful Minecraft was to finally receive official support for virtual reality, exclusively via Oculus Rift and Gear VR headsets. The Gear VR saw it’s version drop earlier this year, with the Rift version following some months later.
Now, Microsoft have stated that support for Oculus’ forthcoming Touch motion controllers will be added too beginning October 18th. At MINECON, the official annual convention for everything Minecraft, the company announced a series of enhancements and add ons for the official version of the game, and that Oculus Touch support will come to the beta release in October. “The Boss Update will allow you to use your Xbox Wireless Controller with Bluetooth while you’re playing the Gear VR and Windows 10 Editions. And, VR players of the Windows 10 Edition Beta will be getting an update to support Oculus Touch input,” stated a blog post on the official Xbox website, published yesterday.
This announcement adds to mounting evidence that we may well see an official launch for Oculus’ much anticipated and long awaited Touch motion controllers in October. We reported recently that a London GAME store had (seemingly mistakenly) set out displays that indicated the UK price for Touch, also stating the store would be taking pre-orders for the devices. Prior to that, two German online stores had listed the controllers —MediaMarkt and Saturn—posted online listings of Touch, citing a €199 price with a November 21st delivery date. Price and shipping information has since been stripped from the online retailers’ respective listings.
It now seems highly likely that Oculus will share launch details and price for Touch at their third developer conference Connect, due to take place in San Jose, CA October 5-7. Given the evidence, it seems we may well see an Oculus Touch launch in the first 2 weeks of October, although this is far from officially confirmed yet.
Road to VR will be at Oculus Connect 3 to bring you the latest from the show floor.